Wine a Little. You'll Feel Better

North of Sydney are the rolling hills of the Hunter Valley.  It is a place known to the outside world for an odd pair economic engines, coal mines and wineries.  In my two and a half days in the area, I saw no mines, but waves and waves of vineyards and billboards calling us to sample the wares of the Three Blind Sheep or the Kalloonballa Hill winery.

Since it was close to our lodge at Elfin Hill Country Accommodation, we started the day at the McWilliams Mount Pleasant Winery, in the capable hands of cellar door master Brian Collins.  Because of his air of authority, we took him for the owner, stopping in for a little elbow rubbing with the customers. Generously, he offered us a tour of the facilities. I learned more about wine than I could remember for five minutes. However, I did learn that you age a merlot in an American oak cask for its courser flavor, whereas you would age a subtler wine, such as chardonnay, in French oak. Figures, doesn't it?
My ability to taste the differences in wine is right up there with my ability to conjugate Finnish verbs.  But I would be willing to study. Mr. Collins started us with the lightest, the verdelhos, and worked our way through the semillons, the chardonnays toward the coarsely aged shirazzes and merlots.  He was a generous and ready pourer, detailing as he went the wonders of each new bottle.
 My head fogged, my palate went to sleep, but my appreciation of his stories became more enthusiastic.  He was, not the owner, but almost as good, the retired principal of a local primary school with a taste for good vintages. He had run his school with a sense of fun, as we learned later from the testimonials of his former students.

A zealous fan of the Rabittohs, a Rugby League team his students had never heard of, he nonetheless put on rabbit ears and led the students in rugby Rabbitoh cheers at the school assemblies.  He described himself as a "Rabbitohs tragic".  I think that is Australian for dedication to a team that doesn't win very often.  We could use it in Michigan.
Warmed by the wine, I turned to our neighbors at the bar, who, it turned out, were from Finland and in the middle of a two year odyssey around the world, in particular Australia and New Zealand.  Joni is an environmental engineer and Heli is a physical therapist.  They support themselves with whatever work comes to hand, even harvesting grapes or zucchini, and thriftily tour the warmer parts of  the world while waiting out the recession in Finland.  They wonder how hard it will be to return to a country where in the winter you need a flashlight at noon to find your way.
We exchanged information and Susie invited them to stop by when they got to Sydney.

It was a lovely time, but we needed to head back to the Elf for a nap.